The Witching Hour – Robert G. Wertzler

Ask a witch

Brave & Reckless

Is there a particular hour for witching?
Oh, come now, does any
Serious witch do witching
Just one hour per day or
As may be, night?
I think not
I think real witching must be
A full-time thing
A way of being in the world
A practice of spirit and faith
In the integration of humans
With all the natural world
Don’t believe me?
Ask any genuine Witch

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Bob Wertzler is retired from almost twenty years in the mental health field in California and Arizona. There are times the title, “Recovering Therapist”, seems to fit. In 2006 he retired to move to Western North Carolina to help and become primary care giver for his father who had developed Dementia. Before all that, there was work at various times as a soldier (US Army 1967-70), community organizer, cab driver, welfare case worker, wooden toy maker, carpenter, warehouse worker, and other things…

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The Position – Padre

A very particular diner

Brave & Reckless

Sally was surprised when she was approached at her final weeks at the culinary academy by a tall, grey countenanced man with a clipped English accent. He inquired if she had as of yet secured a position for after her upcoming graduation.

She said she had not and the man handed her a business card, and said that his “master,” would very much like to secure her services as a private cook. This was a bit of a surprise for Sally, as she had seen herself working in a fine restaurant or five star hotel, not a private home.

It seems word had gotten out of the “Grey Man’s” approach and the interview she had booked at the Michelin star restaurant that she had arranged, was abruptly cancelled. Other fine establishments didn’t even return her calls.

In desperation, and with student loans to consider, she rang the number on the…

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Magic for Beginners – Paula Puolakka

Magic complications

Brave & Reckless

“Climb up, climb up,” they say,

but sometimes it would be better to stop.

To be a Master is ok:

you don’t need to be a Doctor.

A Master can do all kinds of things and

become the king of everything.

 

Here’s magic for beginners:

things are always simple.

It’s the mind of an overanalytical bimbo that

can create an elephant out of a pimple.

 

Photo by Javardh on Unsplash

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Paula Puolakka (1982) is a Beat poet, writer, and MA (History of Science and Ideas.) In late 2021 and early 2022, Puolakka is the representative of the City of Oulu. To learn more, check out Poetry Potion, Spillwords Press, and Penable .

In late November, her article will be a part of an issue of a Finnish magazine for Museology.

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A Flower’s Worst Nightmare – Pallavi

Sad flower

Brave & Reckless

Down, down, down into the darkness of the grave
comestolifea flower’s worstnightmare
bloomed majestic and hand-picked by the gardener as a semblance of exquisite beauty
its heart desired to end up in a vase
brighten up an alley, a room, or somewhere be fondly placed
maybe even become a reason to mend a fight or augment a child’s smile
settle for a broach on his coat or a decor in her hair
Alas! dreams of being showered on happy occasions withered away
with its newfound fate.
Chosen for a visit to the cemetery
and left behind with the dead, down in the darkness of reality.

Photo byRahulfromPexels

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Things which get my endorphins pumping – my kids (mom of two), coffee (green tea just doesn’t do), writing (find it a cathartic release), dancing (absolutely, first love it remains), reading (with or without coffee), working out…

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Whaz Up!?! Biking Through Cambodia and Mixing “The Magic Flute” and “Reamkar”

Calico Jack – another busy week with lots of interesting stuff

The Psy of Life

Uh… Boo, y’all!

Hope your Halloween was happy and spooky and all that. Better, though, is to celebrate Dias de los Meurtos, in my opinion on 1 and 2 November. Tell us about all about your celebrations of the dead in the comments!

The week’s been busy as always. Made busier by the end of the first term of the school year with incumbent extra duties like finalizing report cards, writing student comments, meeting with parents, and completing professional goals. Through it all, I found time to blog, read, and explore Cambodia. Here are some interesting highlights from the week, in no particular order:

• I was fortunate enough to attend a lecture by Aaron Carpene, an Australian-Italian opera academian who has traveled the world melding European opera with traditional performance art in such far flung places as Bhutan, Australia, and Japan. He is now staging a mashup of The Magic…

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Ghosts, Spooks and Pirates

A Halloween collection at Borderless

Borderless

Courtesy: Creative Commons

Why do we enjoy literature on spooks and ghosts?

A million dollar question that seems to have no satisfactory answers. While around October-November, many cultures pay respects to the departed, there are those who do pray at a different time of the year. Is there a link between that and the fun of disguising and collecting candy or playing tricks on Halloween? There are no conclusive answers or evidence to link these.

In this special edition, we decided to have a bit of fun with imps, pirates, ghost, zombies and spooks brought to you from across the world on Halloween as well as a concluding essay on the reasons we celebrate spooks. Enjoy!

Witchy Halloween: Michael Lee Johnson gives us a magical glimpse into Halloween night. Click here to read.

Pirate Poems: Jay Nicholls brings us fun-filled ‘spooky-gooky’ adventures across the Lemon Sea. Clickhere

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Welcoming the Dark Half of the Year

History, traditions, and correcting a few misunderstandings

Borderless

By Candice Louisa Daquin

• 

  All Hallows Eve

• 

  Bobbing Apples

Paintings by Daniel Maclise (1806-1870). Courtesy: Creative Commons

Halloween is one of the oldest fire festivals in the world, perhaps because it considers the relationship between the living and the dead and that has been a primal theme in all human’s lives. Ancient people were more connected to the changing of seasons because their lives literally depended upon it in a way many of us cannot understand today. Most festivals have their origins in food and seasons for this reason. Ancient observations of the dead exist in nearly every recorded culture. Where I live Dias De Los Muertos is as popular as Halloween because we have a 70 percent Hispanic population. Some (though it’s growing smaller) groups of Christians refuse to celebrate Halloween as they feel they are celebrating something Pagan.

True, the celebrations held on October 31, known to exist…

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Monstress – Donna Matthews

An end – a beginning

Brave & Reckless

I was never kinder to the old man than during the whole week before I killed him. His voice is raspy and weak as he pulls me in close. “My darling girl. My beautiful, darling girl. Why?” Rebellious tears roll down my cheeks. I want to be strong and stoic but I’m not. The wooden stake protruding from his chest spells an end for us both…he is dying and I am free.

mirror reflection
turning this way and that way
finding sheer delight
confidence filling a heart
bewitching monstress dancing

Painting by Donna Matthews with aLet’s Make Art Tutorial

The above poem iswritten in a form called Haibun. Haibun, is a prosimetric literary form originating in Japan, combining prose and haiku/senryu/tanka. The range of haibun is broad and frequently includes autobiography, diary, essay, prose poem, short story, and travel journal.Learn more about various poetry styles here.

The tanka…

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Tell Me, Mirror – Lynn White

Mirror, mirror

Brave & Reckless

Tell me, Mirror,

which face do you see?

Is it a pale face,

fairer than fair,

unsullied by sun,

moist and unlined,

unblemished by wind.

Glowing white,

white as snow

virginal,

unbroken

by footprints.

Or is the glowing skin wrinkling,

the shining white greying.

As time has passed

has it picked up some dirt

in passing.

Maybe it’s darker still in places

as the whiteness decays.

As it melts away

like the snow.

Tell me, Mirror,

Which face do you see?

Photo by Михаил Секацкий on Unsplash

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Lynn White lives in north Wales. Her work is influenced by issues of social justice and events, places and people she has known or imagined. She is especially interested in exploring the boundaries of dream, fantasy and reality. She was shortlisted in the Theatre Cloud ‘War Poetry for Today’ competition and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and…

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Daily Writing Prompt: Monster, She Wrote – Lisa Kröger & Melanie R. Anderson

The writing prompt – She wrote a monster, how about you?

Brave & Reckless

I am revisiting a favorite set of daily writing prompts inspired by the fabulous- and informative- book Monster, She Wrote: The Women Who Pioneered Horror and Speculative Fiction this month.  Revisiting these prompts gives me the opportunity to reshare the diverse and ingenuous responses I received the first time I ran the challenge in 2019, and will hopefully new writers and artists will be inspired by these tantalizing book titles.

The only rule is that your writing or art uses one of the book titles as your piece title OR integrates all the words in one of the titles into your piece somehow. 

If you would like to have your piece considered for publication on my blog Brave and Reckless, email it to me at her.red.pen.wordsmithing@gmail.com.  A short biography and a suggested image would be awesome.

You can also participate on Instagram by tagging your writing/art with:

• #the…

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